Articles by Diane Burt

Beware the brown recluse.
The spiky-legged brown recluse grows as long as three-eighths of an inch. A violin shape marks its back. Its bite is devastating. I know because I’ve seen it firsthand.
A big, warm-blood, show horse on my Southern Anne Arundel County farm was bitten on the leg by a brown recluse. After more than two months of treatment, she had to be put down.
In animals and humans alike, the characteristic signs of this spider bite are blistering and swelling at the bite site and surrounding area, followed by skin necrosis and peeling, leaving a deep, exposed area that may need skin grafts to heal. Treatment can go on for weeks, as Philip Angell of Annapolis found out.
About a decade ago, Angell was tidying up a woodpile in his yard in early May. He wore long pants but only clogs on his feet, allowing a brown recluse to bite him on the ankle. He didn’t know he had been bitten until he noticed a red, hard spot as he was showering. He applied hot compresses until it was time to go out that evening. By the next day, the spot was redder and harder, and by the third day, infection was setting in, prompting an emergency room visit.
At the hospital, the doctors recognized the spot as a brown recluse bite. The wound was lanced, then drained and scraped, then Angell was put on intravenous antibiotics in the hospital for several days. Before going home, he was fitted with a contraption that he kept on for 10 days, enabling twice-daily drips of antibiotics, each session lasting an hour. The treatments were successful, and today Angell has only a small scar to show for his experience.
The bite of the brown recluse is distinctive, but it’s best if the spider is seen and captured for identification. Wounds may be wrongly attributed to a snake or black-widow spider, and treatments may vary.
I found my horse killer in a pile of towels and saddle pads waiting to be laundered, near the horse’s stall. After killing the spider, I slid it into a plastic bag to await identification.
Sarah Gorczyca of Home Paramount Pest Control confirmed the identification. Encounters seem to be trending, she reports, with calls concerning brown recluses coming in from Edgewater south through Calvert County.
Maryland is not these spiders’ natural habitat. They concentrate in the central and southern United States but may hitch rides on vehicles.
Wherever they settle, brown recluses build irregular, loosely constructed nests in dark undisturbed areas. Their nest serves only as a retreat and a place for the female to lay her egg sacs. As their name implies, they are reclusive and do not like to come out of their webs except at night to hunt for food. Thus they may reside in close proximity to people and animals and never cause problems. While not aggressive, they will bite if accidentally touched or pressed against.
Look for these spiders in shoes and boots, in piles of clothing or laundry lying on the floor, in basements and garages, and under leaves and mulch.
Human bites remain infrequent. This year, neither Calvert Memorial Hospital in Prince Frederick nor Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis has treated humans bitten by brown recluses. In prior years, both have treated a few, including Angell’s.
Small animal veterinary clinics have reported a few cases, some very serious. In one home where a dog was bitten, exterminators discovered hundreds of brown recluses nesting in the garage. The dog survived after months of treatment.
For animals, prevention is difficult. They are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Call the exterminator if a brown recluse is seen.

Brian Fagan, anthropologist and scholar (professor at the University of California Santa Barbara), is the author of this and other interesting and deeply researched books in the field of archeology. The complexity of relationships in his family menagerie inspired The Intimate Bond’s history of how humans and animals have interacted from the Ice Age to modern times.
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Since a teenage batboy for the Washington Senators, Bill Cox has rooted for the home team

Ask Rose Haven resident Bill Cox about baseball, and he’ll tell you as many stories as you want to hear.
You’d expect as much from this 74-year-old, as he drives a blazing red golf cart refurbished as a Washington Nationals tribute with red and white seats, chrome wheels and a Nats logo. Cox and his shiny cart make appearances in all the Rose Haven holiday parades. He lets Santa borrow it for the Christmas parade.
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All you can eat plus sides of local culture at the Deale Volunteer Fire Department’s Oyster Roast

With a toothpick set in the corner of his mouth, Kenny Wilde offers up jive with fresh-shucked oysters.
“The toothpick helps to keep a cigarette out of my mouth,” says Wilde, K-MAN to his followers.
Wilde works construction most days, though he still holds a Tidal Fishing license so he can harvest oysters. “I went out a few times this fall,” he says. “Enough to remind me it’s hard work.”
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The boat — atop a very long blue trailer — had an entourage, led by a Maryland State Police squad car and followed by escorts on truck and foot.
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Warmer-blooded riders scheme ways to get themselves and their horses to warmer climates, trading down-filled coats for T-shirts and heavy blankets for lightweight flysheets.
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“Everything we did was by trial and error,” recalled Jill Buck of her and husband Andy’s early days as oyster farmers.
“We filled our cages to the brim with the seeds and put them out in the river,” Jill explained. “When we went back to check on them a few weeks later, the growing oysters had burst out of the cages.”
Lesson Number One: Spread a thin layer of seeds on the bottom of each cage....

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Green pastures and paddocks surround an indoor arena as good as you’d see on the hunter/jumper show circuit. Overflow spectators parked along the lane under shady trees. In arena and show ring, volunteers abounded, helping families settle and riders prepare to mount.
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If oystering has been your life for more than 40 years, what do you do when age catches up with you?
If you’re Donald Sheckells, you’re still working.
The Shady Side waterman no longer braves winter on the water to harvest oysters. But he’s still shucking and selling them.
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